Softball

MIT Softball Honored With NFCA New England Coaching Staff of the Year Award

Jun 04, 2018

Louisville, Ky. (June 4) - After winning the Cambridge Regional, the Williamstown Super Regional and finishing seventh at the 2018 NCAA Division III Softball Championship in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma two weeks ago, the MIT softball coaching staff has been named as the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) New England Coaching Staff of the Year. This is the second time in three seasons that head coach Jen Williams and her staff have been honored with this award.

The Engineers finished ranked No. 8 nationally in the final NFCA Division III poll of the year, which marks the second time in program history that MIT has been ranked inside the top-10 in the nation.

The staff made up of eight-year head coach Jen Williams and assistants Brenna Morrissey, Sarah Goodman, Ellie Fodor and Colleen Eucogco led the MIT softball team to its best season in program history. The Engineers finished the 2018 campaign with a record of 38-11-1 (17-1 NEWMAC), won its first NEWMAC Championship, its second Regional and Super Regional titles and finished seventh in the country at the National Championship. As a team, the Engineers set eight new program records and had seven student-athletes break individual single-season records.

MIT softball also had a program-record four NFCA All-Region honorees in Ravenne Nasser (Methuen, Mass.), Jasmin Joseph (Woodland Hills, Calif.), Sarah Von Ahn (West Linn, Ore.) and Devon Goetz (Rockville, Md.), while Nasser became the program's first-ever NFCA All-American when the selections were announced in Oklahoma City prior to the National Championship. All four student-athletes also earned NEWMAC All-Conference accolades and Williams earned NEWMAC Coach of the Year honors for the second time in her coaching career.

The Engineers began the year with a 4-2 mark at the 2018 NFCA Division III Leadoff Classic and took wins against Wittenberg, Birmingham Southern, William Paterson and St. Catherine while in Tucson, Arizona. Over the course of the year, MIT earned five wins against nationally-ranked opponents and tied the program record for most consecutive wins at 20, which stretched from March 31 through April 21. MIT compiled a program-best record of 17-1 in NEWMAC play, earned the right to host the conference tournament for the first time in program history and won the title in an eight-inning walk-off thriller against Babson to claim the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The NCAA Tournament began in Cambridge where MIT no-hit Framingham State University in the opener and defeated crosstown rival Tufts University twice to win the program's second regional crown. The Engineers then went to Williamstown for the Super Regional round where they defeated the Ephs twice in three games to move on to the World Series for the second time in program history.

MIT finished seventh at the program's second World Series in three years and at the conclusion of the tournament, senior Amanda Lee (Saratoga, Calif.) was named to the NCAA Division III Softball Championship All-Tournament Team.